Issue #116

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A Japanese Philosophy of Selling

My first multi-million dollar deal was with a Japanese medical devices company.

They wanted to build a logistics hub in Europe, and I expected the usual tug-of-war over costs and margins.

Instead, I found something else entirely.

They didn’t see the deal as a contest between buyer and seller.

They saw it as a shared act of creation. Their assumption was that both sides must win because both sides were needed.

The doctors and patients they served came first. Their reputation came before profit. As long as we kept that front and centre, everything else could be sorted out.

Negotiations were based on what served the project best, not who could “get one over” on the other.

That experience taught me more about selling than any western business book or motor mouth sales guru ever has.

I have summarised the main principles, the real wisdom is in how these are applied.

Omotenashi

The first lesson was 'Omotenashi', the art of anticipating needs before they are spoken.

Before the first meeting I’d mapped every European hospital and clinic their devices would touch, every border crossing and modal switch.

When I showed those maps, they nodded once and said nothing, but from that moment the tone was set.

Preparation was proof of respect.

In enterprise sales, Omotenashi means doing enough work that the buyer feels understood before you open your mouth.

You meet to clarify, not to learn from scratch.

Nemawashi

The second principle was 'Nemawashi', the quiet cultivation of consensus. Nothing in that organisation happened in one meeting.

Decisions were shaped quietly, person by person, long before big presentations. I learned to talk separately with finance, quality, and operations, listening far more than I spoke.

By the time the board met, everyone already owned their piece of the answer.

In the West we build momentum; they built alignment.

Meishi

'Meishi' is the ritual of respect. The first time we exchanged business cards, each handed with both hands, it felt ceremonial.

That formality anchored the relationship. Every later interaction carried the same care, thank-you notes, follow-ups, punctuality.

Rituals tell people you can be relied on.

In enterprise sales, reliability is the currency of trust.

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Hansei

After each major stage came 'Hansei', structured reflection.

When a meeting went well, we reviewed it. When it didn’t, we reviewed harder to determine why and how to avoid it happening again.

There was no blame, only analysis.

It taught me that progress depends on deliberate review.

We so often rush to the next call; Japanese teams stop, think, and seek to improve.

Giri and Ninjo

Two forces kept everything balanced: 'Giri' and 'Ninjo'. Giri is duty, the obligation to keep promises and maintain discipline.

Ninjo is humanity, the warmth that keeps duty from turning cold.

When an urgent and unplanned shipment needed weekend cover, we handled it at cost. They never forgot that, I think it was what won us the deal.

They saw that duty and compassion weren’t opposites; they were proof of integrity.

Ma

The meetings themselves revealed the idea of 'Ma', the power of silence.

Western sellers fill space with noise; Japanese buyers listen in silence. At first it felt like pressure. I wondered if we were getting through the language barriers.

Then I realised silence was respect, it gave the idea time to breathe.

When you stop performing and allow quiet, people start thinking.

That’s when decisions have time to form and things happen for real.

On a related note, here's an article about how to get answers without asking questions.

Kei-shin

Finally came 'Kei-shin', the spirit of the craftsman. Their managers spoke of logistics as an art (we talked about it as a commercial practice).

Perfection wasn’t a claim, it was a pursuit. Selling to them meant holding yourself to the same standard, treating every plan, review, and call as a chance to practice mastery.

The craft wasn’t closing the deal; it was refining the project, the supply chain, their business.

When the agreement was signed, there were no cheers, no champagne, just a quiet lunch in their canteen and some bowing.

I remember ringing my boss just as I got on the plane and telling him.

He could not understand why I was so relaxed, but it was just not that sort of project.

Buyers And Sellers Are Partners

All of my Japanese customers have taught me that great selling isn’t performance, it’s the partnership of buyer and seller to create growth.

Here is a slide deck describing each principle and with some applications for them too, let me know what you think and how you will apply these.

​The Japanese Philosophy of Selling.pdf​

It’s patience, precision, and pride in the craft each uses to do their side of the deal.

And once you learn to sell that way, you can’t go back, you don’t want to go back.

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​My Udemy course is available to give you the foundations of enterprise sales in bite size chunks, with loads of diagrams and the comfort of knowing it is all road tested, success driven and it works.

Or you can get ahead of your competitors for that Sales VP job by reading this, it's your unfair advantage:

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